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Monday, January 13, 2014

Random stuff about the Bahamas

This is our third trip to the Bahamas in a year
because of repeated boat-fixing activities in the States. Although we have not
visited as many anchorages as other boats, we have visited several places more
than once and stayed longer than we might otherwise have. As a result, we have gotten
to know more local people (non-cruisers) and learned various facts/nuances
about life here that not every visitor picks up.

For example, electricity here is really expensive. A
typical house in Marsh Harbour pays $600 a month. That's how much 8 months of
electrical cost us for our 2-flat in Chicago in 2011. And the $600 surely isn't
going into improving the infrastructure: the power goes out with a regularity
that would have Americans stringing up ComEd executives faster than you can
say, "Won't somebody please think of the ice cream?!" You would think
solar would be a more popular option but I guess capital is an issue and there
are pesky regulations about generators (which would be needed as back up on
cloudy days).

We also learned that stray dogs are called "pot
cake" dogs because they eat all the scraps available, including the burned
rice caked on the bottom of the pot. The
dog pictured above is the opposite of a pot cake dog. He's owned by a Rock Sound
restaurant/hotel owner and has to be one of the best fed dogs in the Bahamas.
He'll bark at you for the first 30 seconds and then he is a typical "I
have just met you but I love you" dog.

From a child-rearing perspective, corporal punishment
is alive and well in the Bahamas. We were a little surprised when a well-meaning
grocery store owner told Mark that he was sure to get a spanking if he didn't
listen to his parents. We have heard that most public schools also freely spank
children, sometimes punishing an entire class to enforce order. Matt witnessed
two mid-twenties men roughing up a teenage boy that they said was
"teefin'" (it took Matt a minute to realize they were saying
"thieving"), referring to the way the teen was observed casing parked
cars. The men did not appear to know the boy. It was island justice--capture,
trial, sentencing and punishment, administered in 5 minutes.

We don't spank our kids but were raised in a time
when almost no one spared the rod. Therefore we're not offended by the cultural
difference (from a distance that is--having our sons physically disciplined by
a stranger would probably raise our hackles). In fact, comparing the behavior of our often
unruly youngest with the mostly well-behaved Bahamian children sometimes gives
us pause to reconsider. Of course, not all the local kids are Miss Manners
clones. Anecdotally, the behavior of children
here seems to mirror the range that you see in the States. Some have been
angels, a few have been hellions (especially when their parents are nowhere to
be seen), and most are somewhere in between.
But the fact that most address us and other adults with "Yes,
Sir" and "Yes, Ma'am", makes it seem like they're better behaved
than they are. It's comparable to the American south in that way.

Here in Rock Sound,
we have been to the relatively well-stocked Market Store numerous times trying
to see which items had been "reduced for quick sale" but were still viable.
We had some delicious conch fritters at
Pascal's (a gourmet restaurant in the middle of nowhere) to quell our guilt
over using their freely-offered water to fill up our jugs. We visited some truly
prehistoric-feeling caves rife with bats. We crossed over to the Atlantic side
of the island to see the pink (if you squint) sand beaches and play in the surf,
dodging eager pot cake dogs along the way. Mostly we have enjoyed postponing
most of the boat tasks on our to do list for a little while (although Matt did
spend a full morning changing the oil and watering the batteries). We're still
waiting to hear from the boat yard in Spanish Wells about the availability of
their lift to decide whether to go North or South.

I told Matt about your comment and he said, of course you wouldn't want to chop off limbs (not realizing we were talking about photography). Context. You would totally eat conch if it were fried up in a hush puppy like ball of dough!